System and method for enhanced messaging

ABSTRACT

A system and method for enhancing the experience of a user using a communication program over the Internet or other network. The system and method according to one embodiment utilizes a user&#39;s status indicator in a communication program to share content such as music or videos among users. One system and method according to the present invention allows a user to display an indicator and to set an actionable status message which indicates to other users the media content that the first user is experiencing. In another embodiment, a user is given the ability to access content that other users are listening to or viewing at that time. The system and method in an alternate embodiment broadcast metadata about the user&#39;s content to other users and the other users are able to utilize that metadata to receive and experience the same or similar content that the first user is experiencing.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a system and method formessaging.

2. Description of Related Art

The expansion of the Internet and the worldwide web (“web”) has providedcomputer users with an enhanced ability to communicate with one another,such as by e-mail, chat and instant messaging, to name a few methods.Instant messaging has become a popular form of communication in recentyears. In an instant messaging system, two users are able to communicatewith each other in real time or near real time by passing messages aswell as other information, such as files, over the Internet. In aninstant messaging system, the messages are generated and displayed usingan instant messaging client software program that resides on each user'scomputer. In some instant messaging systems, other information about theuser, such as a profile or his or her status (e.g., whether the user isonline, offline, busy) can be shared with other users of the instantmessaging system.

Although instant messaging has become popular, it still does not utilizethe global reaches of the Internet to the fullest extent possible.Although useful in exchanging text messages and files, current instantmessenger platforms do not have the capability of sharing otherpractical information among users. While a user is utilizing theirinstant messaging program, they can also be doing numerous other thingsboth at their computers and over the Internet. Current instant messagingprograms do not allow users to easily share this experience with otherinstant messaging users.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

When one user is making use of a particular application on a computer orover the Internet, it would be advantageous if he or she could let otherusers know what application they were using and easily share thatexperience with other users. Thus, for example, if a user wereexperiencing a particular item of media, for example a song or videoclip, via a media player, it would be advantageous if another user couldobtain information about the music being listened to and even listen tothe same song, playlist, radio station or genre of music. This wouldcreate an additional level of shared experience between users that wouldallow for enhanced communication that goes far beyond the mere sharingof text messages and the like.

The present invention provides a system and method for enhancing theexperience of a user using a communication program over the Internet orother network. In one embodiment, the experience of an instant messaginguser is enhanced by utilizing a user status indicator in an instantmessaging system to facilitate the sharing of the experience of contentsuch as music or videos. One system and method according to oneembodiment of the present invention allows a user to display anindicator and/or to set an actionable status message which alerts otherusers to media content that the first user is experiencing.

In one embodiment a user is given the ability to access the same orsimilar content that other users are listening to or viewing orotherwise experiencing at a particular time. In operation, the instantmessaging system makes available data or metadata about the content auser is experiencing at a given time. Other users are then able toutilize that data or metadata to receive and experience the same orsimilar content that the user is experiencing or get more informationrelated to the media or content. In one embodiment, a the systemperforms a check to discern whether the other user making the requestshould be granted access to the particular content taking intoconsideration the appropriate digital rights.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustrating an exemplary system architecture ofone embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exemplary user interface of an exemplary instant messagingclient according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an exemplary user interface portion of an exemplary instantmessaging client according to one embodiment of the present invention;and

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustrating an exemplary process workflowaccording to one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In general the present invention relates to a system and method forenhancing an experience among intercommunicating users to therebyengender affinity between users and a provider of the system and/ormethod. In certain exemplary embodiments, a system and method isdescribed which enhances the user's experience by allowing improvedinterrelationships and activity sharing between users of an instantmessaging system.

Certain embodiments of the present invention will now be discussed withreference to the aforementioned figures, wherein like reference numeralsrefer to like components. Referring now to FIG. 1, the architecture ofone embodiment of the present invention is shown in schematic form. Ascan be seen in FIG. 1, a system 100 according to one embodiment of thepresent invention is shown. In general, the system 100 allows users 102to communicate with each other through the Internet utilizing an instantmessaging platform as well as to share different information and dataamongst themselves.

Each user 102 has a processor 103, such as a personal computer (PC), webenabled cellular telephone, personal digital assistant (PDA) or thelike, coupled to the Internet 104 by any one of a number of knownmanners. Furthermore, each processor 103 preferably includes an Internetbrowser (not shown), such as that offered by Microsoft Corporation underthe trade name INTERNET EXPLORER, or that offered by Netscape Corp.under the trade name NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR, and a media player (not shown),such as that offered by Microsoft Corporation under the trade nameWINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER, or that offered by Real Networks Corp. under thetrade name REAL PLAYER, or the software or hardware equivalent of theaforementioned components that enable intercommunication between usersand service providers, among users, and that provide the ability toconvert digital information or data into a perceptible form. In thedescribed embodiment, processor 103 runs an instant messaging clientsoftware program 112 that is used to communicate with an instantmessaging server 106 and exchange messages between users. One suchexample of an instant messaging client is Yahoo! Instant Messenger, orany other instant messaging client now known or hereafter to becomeknown. It should be appreciated that although this embodiment isdescribed in terms of an instant messaging client, it can also utilizeother forms of communication over the Internet heretofore or hereafterknown. It should also be understood that although the present embodimentis described in terms of media content and specifically audio content,it is within the scope of the present invention to utilize any contentor media format heretofore or hereafter known. Furthermore, it is to beunderstood that although the present embodiment is described within thecontext of streaming media, the present invention is applicable todigital content other than streaming media as well and could be anInternet destination reached via a URI or URL.

As will be discussed in greater detail below, the system 100 includesinstant messaging (IM) server(s) 106 as well as media server(s) 108.Other servers 110 may also be accessible. The IM servers 106 act toexchange messages between users 102, as well as to pass along otherinformation to both the users 102 and the media server 108. In additionto exchanging information with IM server(s) 106, media server(s) 108store music content as well as stream various forms of music content tobe received by users 102. Other servers 110 make other content andservices available, and may provide administrative services such asmanaging user logins, service access permissions, digital rightsmanagement, storing user profile and preference information, and otherservices made available by a service provider. It should be appreciatedthat although some embodiments of the invention are described in termsof music, the embodiments can also encompass any form of streaming ornon-streaming media including but not limited to news, entertainment,sports events, or any other webpage or perceptible audio or videocontent.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the users 102, the IM server(s) 106 and mediaserver(s) 108 and other servers 110 are communicatively connected viathe Internet 104. In alternate embodiments, different components of thesystem may be coupled differently, for example, each may be coupleddirectly to each other wirelessly or via an intranet or wide-areanetwork (WAN) or the like.

Users 102 utilize the instant messaging client 112 on their processors103 to communicate with other users via the instant messaging server(s).As can be seen from FIG. 2, while using an instant messaging client, theuser is given the ability to interact with other users, by, for example,typing messages or sending files to another user. In addition toenabling a user to perform different functions (e.g., sending messagesand/or items to another user, accessing web sites) in one part of theinstant messenger window 202, the instant messaging client also enablesa user to compile a “list of friends” 204 or in other words, other userswith which the user is acquainted. The instant messaging client displaysa list of these other user's names, so that the user may easily access agroup of other users with whom the user is in frequent contact. Forexample, in a known manner, by clicking on a friend's user name, theuser will be able to send an instant message to his or her friend.Additionally, when clicking on a friend's user name, other data aboutthe user such as hobbies, likes, dislikes, or other information that theuser has provided to the system can be displayed or made accessible. Inaddition, a user can group his or her friends into further categories(e.g., family, friends, etc.).

In certain known embodiments of instant messaging programs, each user isgiven an option to set their status. For example, possible statusindicators may include “available,” “idle,” “busy,” “be right back,”“not at my desk,” “on vacation,” or “out to lunch.” When a user choosesto set his or her status, the user's id is flagged with a correspondingstatus indicator 224. Any other user that wishes to either instantmessage the first user or just wishes to obtain the first user's status,will be informed of the status chosen by the first user. For example, ifuser Cris flags his status 224 as “busy,” any other user that hasidentified user Cris their respective “friends list” or who wishes toview Cris's status or wishes to send an instant message to Cris will beadvised through the status indicator 224 visible to the other user thatCris is “busy.” It is to be appreciated that the use of statusindicators creates an atmosphere where each user can easily makeavailable their status to other users without having to individuallytell each user that, for example, he or she is busy. A user may set hisstatus by choosing from a drop-down list or by using other widely knownmethods of selecting an item within a computer environment.

In various different atmospheres, different known status indicators caninclude various indicators regarding location of the user (e.g., home,work), what the user is in the middle of doing (e.g., busy, on thephone), what mood the user is in (e.g., sad, happy) or other detailsabout the user. In the alternative, the user may choose to identify hisstatus as invisible which will hide the user from other users and itwill appear to other users as if the first user is not connected to thesystem.

In another known embodiment, the user may also personalize a particularstatus as opposed to choosing one provided by the system. For example, auser may set a personalized message (e.g., good day to you all) as hisor her status. Additionally a status indicator might be a universalresource locator (URL) or a hyperlink to another application. Forexample, one user might provide a link to their favorite website as hisor her status indicator. When another instant messaging user would clickon the first user's status indicator (e.g. the URL or link), the userwill be directed to the website represented by that URL or link. Inother embodiments additional applications and/or programs might beutilized through the status indicators. For instance, if a user has aweb camera on their home computer, they may include a message in theirstatus indicator that states for example, “view my web cam.” Whenanother user clicks on that status message, the image from the webcamera will be displayed. In other embodiments, pictures or icons 210may be displayed alongside the status indicator. For example, a pictureof a camera can be displayed next to a status indicator that directs auser to another user's web cam, or a bright smiley face may indicatethat the user is on the system, or a time-clock may indicate that a useris idle. Other operations can be made available via buttons 224 or otherinterface options such as menus or hot links.

In operation of an embodiment of present invention, the instantmessaging client 112 on user 102's computer 103 maintains a list oficons, messages or other information that can be displayed as a user'sstatus indicator, or can obtain such information or indicators from IMserver 106. When the IM server 106 determines that a change of statusindicator is appropriate, for example because a user has logged off thesystem or the user has notified the system that they are busy forexample, the IM server 106 recognizes this change in status and passesthis information along to the instant messaging client on the other user102's computer. The instant messaging client applies the applicablestatus indicator to the other user's display, and in this manner eachuser is able to view the updated status of other users.

In one embodiment of the present invention, (See FIG. 3) the user of thesystem is enabled to listen to music over the Internet through a userinterface presented by the messaging client (or other streaming mediaapplication), which interface contains a messaging portion and a mediaplayer portion. This embodiment enables a user to share a musicexperience or the type of music that he or she is listening to withother users. In this embodiment, users are able to utilize a streamingmedia service (such as for example Yahoo!'s Launchcast™) within themedia player portion of the instant messaging user interface. As can beseen from FIG. 3, an exemplary instant messaging user interface isdivided into a media player section 304 and a messaging section 312 forthe user to allow the user to control access to and the experiencing ofstreaming media via a media player application while at the same timemaintaining instant messaging capabilities.

The use of a media player and/or service such as Launchcast™ within aninstant messaging system will now be described in more detail. Referringto FIG. 3, a user that is utilizing an instant messaging (IM) client andwishes to listen to streaming media utilizing a media player within theinstant messaging client is provided via known programming techniqueswith a media player within the user interface of the instant messagingclient. In one embodiment, as seen in FIG. 2, access to the media playercan be enabled by clicking the button or tab containing an icondepicting a media-related image such as headphones 220 at the lowerportion of IM window 202 or some other user interface choice.

Once the user (in the depicted example “Mark”) chooses to utilize theplayer within the instant messaging client, as seen in FIG. 3, the upperportion 312 of the instant messaging client 302 displays his friendslist and provides “conventional” instant messaging functions to users(e.g., chatting, Instant Messaging, seeing another user's status, etc.)as well as new features described herein. The lower portion 304 of theIM window 302, however, is transformed into a media player through whicha user may play or otherwise experience the streaming media that hasbeen requested and sent from media servers 108 in known manners. Itshould be appreciated that this results in the added benefit of beingable to combine a user's instant messaging experience with a mediaplaying experience. It should also be appreciated that all of thispreferably transpires seamlessly from the user's perspective, furtherenhancing the instant messaging experience. In other embodiments, theplayer can be located in a different location within the instantmessaging window or can be located outside of the messaging window orscreen portion in a separate window or screen portion. In oneembodiment, the song 560 that the user “Mark” is experiencing throughthe media player is listed next to “Mark's” name at 580 in the upperportion 312 of IM window 302.

Thus, by way of further example as seen in FIG. 3, and further describedherein, a user 500 is identified with a status indicator 525 thatindicates that user 500 is listening to music, while the same or adifferent indicator preferably identifies the name 550 of the particularsong that user 500 is listening to. Thus, the user's displayed statusindicator is interconnected with and indicative of the user's actualexperience while using the inventive system and method.

As can further be seen in FIG. 3, a user's status indicator can beutilized to allow other users to view the title of a song that aparticular user is listening to. For example, as can be seen in theupper portion 312 of the instant messaging display 302, if user “Adrian”500 is listening to the song “Faith” from the album “Faith” by GeorgeMichael, “Adrian's” song status indicator 550 will show “GeorgeMichael—Faith—Faith” indicating the artist, song and album. Therefore,other users will know that Adrian is currently listening to that song.In addition to the name of the song, the artist, and the album, the songstatus indicator 550 is preferably a hyperlink, or a separate hyperlinkcould be displayed near the status indicator. Thus, if a user utilizingthe IM client displaying IM window 302 (in this instance “Mark”) wishesto listen to the same song that user “Adrian” is listening to, user“Mark” would click on that song name 550 hyperlink. When “Mark” clickson that hyperlink, he would then receive through his media player thesong or portion of the song that “Adrian” is listening to, as will beexplained in further detail with reference to FIG. 4. Alternatively, anindividual user can choose how their music status message appears. Forexample, instead of listing the song and the artist, a user may insert apersonalized message or possibly no message at all, but rather just alink to the song.

An exemplary method of effectuating the above-described embodiment willnow be described. IM server 106 stores, obtains and/or makes availabledata and/or metadata that is represented in whole or in part by statusindicators 525, 550, or a combination thereof. As used herein, data andmetadata are used interchangeably. This “augmented” status indicator canrepresent the data associated with other status indicators such as forexample a custom status message, category of status, and text for thestatus indicator. In addition to the data represented by the standardstatus indicator, the “augmented” status indicator also representsmetadata related to the status. For example, in the case of an instantmessaging user 500 who is listening to streaming media and wishes toshare the listening experience with other users, the augmented statusindicator will relate to and represent information such as, for example,a song identifier, which may comprise the identity of the artist, songtitle, album name, reviews, popularity information, or other informationrelated to the song or item of media content, for example a useridentifier, a popularity rating of a song or media item, or any otherinformation that the player or messaging program would need or canutilize in order to stream the song or other media or provide additionalinformation to the user. This relationship between data and the statusindicator allows a user 500 to indicate to various other users,simultaneously, that song 550 is the song that he or she is listeningto, and also in turn provides to those other users access to data andinformation associated with that indicator. Conversely, this also allowsa single user to be able to view a list of the songs that his or herfriends are listening to. A user need not install any new programs orplug-ins, nor does the user need to be running any additional softwareto find out what another user is listening to, but rather the userutilizes the instant messaging program and friend list functionalityherein described to access this information. Further, each user 500 doesnot need to manually adjust their song status indicator 550 to indicatethe song that they are listening to, but rather the system displays thatinformation automatically as the user receives and experiences each newsong or other media item, as a result of data arriving from the serversto the client software. It should be understood that this embodimenteasily allows each user the benefit of being able to utilize an instantmessaging “friends list” to instantly access data and information aboutmusic being experienced by each of their listed friends. The statusindicators change as the user's listening experience changes. So, forexample, referring again to FIG. 3, if user Adrian 500 finisheslistening to the song Faith and is now listening to the song Teen Angstby the group Cracker, Adrian's status indicator would be updated to allusers having Adrian on their friends list to reflect this new song titleand artist. The amount of information contained in a status indicator iscontrollable either by the system provider, media provider, softwareprovider, user, or some combination thereof, as is the amount of datarepresented by or accessible from that indicator.

It should be appreciated that although the above discussion is describedin terms of a particular song, the present invention can alternativelyor simultaneously include the ability to listen to a variety of songssuch as in a playlist. For example if the first user Todd 510 islistening to a particular playlist “Todd's Rock” which includes avariety of songs in sequence or at random, a status indicator 511 coulddisplay the name of Todd's playlist and allow another user to click onthat playlist and listen to any or all of the songs in Todd's playlist.Once again, limits can be optionally set by the user or the messagingprogram provider as to how many songs in the playlist the second user ispermitted to listen to (e.g., only the first song in the playlist, oronly five songs from the playlist), or the order in which the songs areplayed, or other limits or manipulation of the playlist content.

In another embodiment, a user of the system of the present invention isable to listen to a “radio station” that another user is listening to inaddition to merely a particular song or video. As is known in the art,applications exist that permit a user to create a personalized “radiostation” that can be set up to stream media to the user that conformswith the user's selected preferences. An exemplary Internet websitefeaturing the use of an Internet radio is that of Yahoo! Launch. Withinthe radio system, a user can set up a radio station that will, inaccordance with a preprogrammed algorithm, conform to the preferencesselected for that user's station. For example, if a user desires to heara particular genre of music (e.g., jazz or rock), or identifies artistsor albums that he or she enjoys, then the algorithm applied to thatuser's station will be influenced by the user's preferences.

In one embodiment of the present invention, if user Peter 515 hasutilized a service to create a radio station that plays music inaccordance with Peter's preferences, which Peter calls “Peter'sStation”, the status indicator 525 associated with Peter preferably alsoreflects the user's radio station identity, i.e. Peter's Station 575.Thus, when another user clicks on Peter's status indicator 525, or thePeter's Station indicator 575 which reflects the radio station 575 beinglistened to by Peter 515, the same or similar algorithm to that whichcontrols and serves media for Peter's Station will be utilized to streamcontent to that other user. It should be appreciated that this has theadded benefit of not only allowing a user to share a particular musicexperience in the form of a song that he or she is listening to withanother instant messaging user, but it also provides added flexibilityin allowing a user to share a particular radio station or, in otherwords, particular criteria that the user has already set up in a radiostation he or she is currently listening to or simply wishes to sharewhether or not listening to that station at the time the second userselects it.

Thus if another user clicks on the status indicator 525 or the name 575which indicates Peter's radio station, the system will use Peter's radiostation preferences to choose songs for the other user and will passalong such songs to the user. Also, if the radio system is asubscription system and different users are allowed varying access todifferent stations, the particular station may or may not be availableto a particular user. In such instance, the IM server 106 or mediaserver 108 or other server 110 or the client software can be configuredto control access to the various available media so that users arerestricted to media in accordance with preselected criteria such assubscription level, content restriction (adult versus minor), or othercriteria selected by the user, content or service provider, or somecombination of those entities.

In alternate embodiments link 575 need not be a static URI or onerelated solely to media, but can be dynamically changing to indicate theURI of a webpage being viewed by a user. Thus, referring again to FIG.3, if user “Moe” 590 is currently viewing the homepage for websiteYahoo!, “Moe's” status indicator 595 can reflect the URI of that page.Status indicator 595 will change as “Moe” surfs to different pages and“Moe's” friends can click along and share Moe's browsing experience. Insuch instance the URI of a user can be tracked by the IM client, passedto the IM client by a browser, or made available in some other manner tobe passed on to IM server 106 to enable updating of a user's statusindicator as that user “surfs” the web, in the same manner that a song,playlist or radio station status indicator changes in accordance withuser's listening changes.

An exemplary method of sharing a media experience by another instantmessaging user according to one embodiment of the present invention isdepicted in the flowchart of FIG. 4. For example if User A is listeningto a song with a player 304 that is within their instant messagingclient display 302, Step 402, the media server 108 passes metadata aboutthe song (e.g., song ID, user ID or other data described herein) to IMserver 106. Step 404. Once the IM Server receives the metadata aboutUser A's song, the IM server may optionally check User A's settings todetermine whether User A wishes to share information about the song thathe or she is listening to with other users. Step 406. It should beunderstood that in different embodiments, users are allowed to choosewhich information or data they wish to share with which users, oralternatively, the service provider can control access based onpreselected user criteria or other criteria, for example through logincontrol and subscription levels. If it is determined that User A doesnot wish to share any song information, or other system parametersindicate no information sharing should occur, then no information isshared. Step 407. If it is determined that User A wishes to share his orher song information with other users (e.g., User A's friends), or ifbased on other criteria such information sharing is permitted, the IMserver sends a status indicator representing the media with the mediametadata to those users that User A wishes to share the information with(e.g., User A's friends). Step 408. Any user that is in the group ofusers that User A wished to share his or her media data with will beable to view the status indicator (e.g., element 525 of FIG. 3) and adisplay of the name of the song and/or artist (e.g., element 550 of FIG.3) as was discussed above with reference to FIG. 3. Step 410. If forexample User B wishes to experience the same media that User A isexperiencing, User B would click on User A's status indicator 525 orindicator 550, or these indicators can be displayed as one indicator.Step 412. Once User B clicks on that link 550, the media server(s) beginto stream User A's media to User B. Step 414. User B is then able toexperience the same media that User A was experiencing on his or herplayer that is embedded within or operating along with his or hermessaging client 304. Step 416. It should be appreciated that indifferent embodiments various checks can be performed by the system todetermine whether each user's messaging client and/or player is capableof receiving the media content that is being streamed. For example, thesystem may check if the user is running another media player on his orher system or listening to another song. If the user's player is notavailable, the system can also alert the user that he or she is alreadyusing the media player and must close the player to access this newsong, or alternatively, the system may close the open player or open analternative player with or without alerting the user. Also, as describedabove, the indicator need not reflect a song, but can indicate a genreof music, a playlist, a radio station, a video, a URI, or other link toexperienceable content a user wishes to experience along with another,and the indicator can be a combination of words and graphics, e.g. apicture of headphones and a song title.

In another embodiment, the system checks whether the user hasappropriate rights to access the media that the first user wasexperiencing. It should be appreciated that this embodiment can includeusers with different levels of access or subscriptions and therefore oneuser may not be permitted to access every item of media that anotheruser is experiencing or is capable of experiencing. In alternateembodiments, the media that is streamed to a second user will not bestreamed in its entirety, or will or will not be streamed at the sametime to both users. In other embodiments, the media may be abridged.

It should be appreciated that although the above description detailsplaying media from a player within an instant messaging program, oneembodiment can pass information regarding media being played from amedia player distinct from the instant messaging program, by virtue ofthe instant messaging program containing an application that can captureURI or stream information from an existing, non-embedded player orbrowser.

Although much of the above description is expressed in reference to aninstant messaging environment, it should be appreciated that it can beutilized in reference to any communication system where a user wishes tomake their availability known to other users and wishes to shareinformation or experiences (e.g., music that they are listening to) withother users.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that the method and system ofthe present invention has many applications, may be implemented in manymanners and, as such, is not to be limited by the foregoing exemplaryembodiments and examples. In other words, functional elements may beperformed by single or multiple components, in various combinations ofhardware and software, and individual functions can be distributed amongsoftware applications at the client or server level, as desired. In thisregard, any number of the features of the different embodimentsdescribed herein may be combined into one single embodiment andalternate embodiments having fewer than or more than all of the featuresherein described are possible. Moreover, the scope of the presentinvention covers conventionally known and future developed variationsand modifications to the system components described herein, as would beunderstood by those skilled in the art.

1. An instant messaging user interface comprising: a list of selectedusers and a media player wherein the list of selected users furthercomprises: a status indicator associated with a selected user in theselected user list, which status indicator is representative of mediathat the selected user is experiencing at a time the status indicator isassociated.
 2. A system for providing an enhanced experience to acommunication program user comprising: a first user communicationprogram made available by a service provider; a second usercommunication program made available by the service provider; amessaging server in communication with said first and second programs,which messaging server provides to a second user a status indicatorassociated with an identifier of a first user in a selected user listdisplayed to the second user, the status indicator associated with thefirst user and indicating media content being experienced by the firstuser at a time the status indicator is provided, the status indicatordisplayed to the second user being changed dynamically based on a changein media content being experienced by the first user; and a media serverthat communicates with said messaging server and selectively sends mediacontent to the second user after the second user interacts with theindicator.
 3. An instant messaging user interface comprising: a list ofselected users and a media player wherein the list of selected usersfurther comprises: a status indicator associated with a selected user inthe selected user list, which status indicator is representative ofmedia that the selected user is experiencing at a time the statusindicator is associated, and which status indicator is changeddynamically based on a change in media being experienced by the selecteduser.